Injury, trauma, impairment, or post-surgery recovery is big business worldwide. As the population gets older, people tend to injure their knees, hips, shoulders, and other body parts, or these body parts deteriorate over time. Degenerative or arthritic issues may also lead to the deterioration of knees, hips, and shoulders. Often a patient must have surgery to improve the painful condition. Sometimes this can involve working on or repairing the affected area or even implanting a replacement knee or hip joint. After surgery, patients are required to treat and rehabilitate the areas of the body that were subjected to or affected by the operation. Ice, heat, or electrical stimulation to the affected area may be recommended for post-surgery treatment. In addition to this treatment, rehabilitation is crucial for recovery.
The knee or hip that was impaired, injured, or subject to surgery may need to be improved, exercised, and strengthened after surgery, including surrounding areas that control or influence the knee or hip. For example, if a patient's knee was operated on, then the patient may need to strengthen not only the knee, but the other muscles, tendons, and ligaments that interact with the knee, including the calf muscle, thigh muscle, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), lateral cruciate ligament (LCL), patellar tendon, etc. Traditionally, surgeons would recommend a physical therapy plan for post-surgery recovery, which included visiting with a physical therapist that can move, adjust, stretch, and exercise the patients' muscles and joints according to the plan. However, this requires the patient to make an appointment and travel to the physical therapist's office for the appointment. Additionally, the physical therapist may have to assist with the exercises or stretching of the desired body parts. This can create scheduling conflicts and may limit the amount of therapy for the patient.
Conventionally, the physical therapist had to assist with the exercises or stretching of the desired body parts, which may lead to inconsistent repetitions and improper movements. For example, the physical therapist may apply a first resistance on one repetition and a different resistance on the next repetition, which could lead to inconsistent exercises. Further, the physical therapist may be performing improper ranges of motions that do not match up with the recommended physical therapy plan.
Physical therapists and patients also use apparatuses and devices to accomplish the recommended physical therapy after a surgery. A physical therapist's office can look similar to a gym with workout equipment and weights for stretching and exercise. However, these apparatuses and devices are expensive, bulky, and not always appropriate for physical therapy. Without significant supervision and assistance, the patient may use the equipment improperly, select the wrong resistance, or fail to use the recommended range of motion. Conventional apparatuses may provide the stretching component by putting the body part through a desired range of motion, or separately provide resistance to the body part, but a device that accomplishes both is desired. With post-surgery patients, consistent resistance and proper range of motion are crucial to recovery.
For operations on the knee, devices called continuous passive motion (“CPM”) have been recently used for post-surgery rehabilitation. These devices are utilized to gently flex and extend the knee within the proper range of motion but fail to provide any resistance in this range of motion. While this device allows the patient to move his or her knee at home or in the hospital without the assistance of a physical therapist, this device simply passively moves the leg. Studies have shown that this device may be helpful right after surgery to improve range of motion but may not be helpful in the long run because the knee and the muscles surrounding it are not strengthened or exercised. The muscles can atrophy without this exercise and strengthening. A device that can be used in or outside of the physical therapist's office to improve range of motion and strengthen the desired area is needed. This type of apparatus would greatly improve and speed up the recovery process and can be used to strengthen the uninvolved leg.